Disclosure of Invention
The invention provides a memory device and a writing method thereof, which can effectively avoid the reduction of a reading window and reduce the situation of reading errors.
The memory device of the present invention includes a nonvolatile memory and a control circuit. The control circuit performs a first write operation and a first write verify operation on a plurality of memory cells of the nonvolatile memory. After the memory cells pass the first write verification operation, a second write verification operation is performed on a plurality of target memory cells corresponding to at least one target threshold voltage among the memory cells. And executing a second write operation and a third write verification operation on the plurality of memory cells when the failure bit number of the plurality of target memory cells is not smaller than the preset bit number.
The invention also provides a writing method of the memory device, the memory device comprises a plurality of memory units, and the writing method of the memory device comprises the following steps. And executing a first writing operation and a first writing verification operation on the plurality of memory cells. After the memory cells pass the first write verification operation, a second write verification operation is performed on a plurality of target memory cells corresponding to at least one target threshold voltage among the memory cells. Judging whether the failure bit number of the target storage unit is smaller than a preset bit number. And if the failure bit number of the target memory cells is not smaller than the preset bit number, executing a second write operation and a third write verification operation on the memory cells.
Based on the above, the control circuit according to the embodiment of the invention may perform the second write verification operation on the target memory cell corresponding to the at least one target threshold voltage in the memory cells after the memory cells pass the first write verification operation. And when the failure bit number of the target memory cell is not smaller than the preset bit number, executing a second write operation and a third write verification operation on the memory cell. Thus, the possibility of reading error can be effectively improved.
In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
Detailed Description
The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a memory device according to an embodiment of the invention, please refer to fig. 1. The memory device includes a control circuit 102 and a nonvolatile memory 104, the nonvolatile memory 104 may include a plurality of memory blocks, each memory block may include a plurality of memory pages, and the control circuit 102 may perform an access operation to the nonvolatile memory 104 in units of one memory page. Wherein each memory page includes a plurality of memory cells, which may be, for example, single level memory cells, multiple level memory cells, three level memory cells, or four level memory cells.
In this embodiment, taking a third-level memory cell as an example, each memory cell can store 3 bits of data, as shown in fig. 2 (a), each memory cell can have 8 logic states, and threshold voltages VT1 to VT7 can be used to distinguish states of data stored in the memory cells. The control circuit 102 may perform a first write operation and a first write verify operation on the memory cells in the memory page. Further, the control circuit 102 may apply an initial write voltage to the memory cells for writing data, for example, may apply a write pulse to each memory cell to move the threshold voltage of each memory cell to a desired corresponding voltage value (e.g., to move to or beyond one of the threshold voltages VT 1-VT 7), and apply a write verification voltage PV for write verification to the memory cell to determine whether each memory cell reaches the desired corresponding threshold voltage value (e.g., VT1, VT3 or other threshold voltages of the threshold voltages VT 1-VT 7) to determine whether the data is correctly written to the memory cell. In the present embodiment, the third-order memory cell has 8 logic states, and each logic state has a corresponding threshold voltage VT1 to VT7. If some memory cells fail the write verification of their corresponding threshold voltages, the data can be written again using the incremental step pulse programmable (INCREMENTAL STEP Pulse Programming, ISPP) voltages. That is, after each write verification failure, the write voltage is increased by a fixed voltage, and then data is written into the memory cells until all the memory cells pass the write verification of the corresponding threshold voltage. After all pass the first write verify operation, an offset occurs between the actual threshold voltage distribution curve (the distribution curve shown by the dotted line) and the expected threshold voltage distribution curve (the distribution curve shown by the solid line) of the memory cells in the memory page. A threshold voltage shift will likely occur due to random telegraph noise and lateral charge migration. As can be seen from fig. 2 (a), there is a maximum threshold voltage shift (shown by the dotted line) among the threshold voltage shifts of VT1 to VT7 on the distribution curve. This maximum threshold voltage shift is related to the highest threshold voltage VT7 as circled by circled box 100. The memory cells related to the distribution curve selected by the circled selection box 100 may be the target memory cell. It is noted that in other embodiments, memory cells associated with different threshold voltages may be used as the target memory cell. For example, memory cells distributed between threshold voltages VT3 and VT4 may be targeted memory cells. The selection of the target memory cell is not limited to the embodiment (a) of fig. 2.
As previously described, a second write verify operation may be performed on the target storage unit. As shown in fig. 2 (B), the control circuit 102 may apply the second write verification voltage PV' only to the target memory cell to determine whether the failure bit number (Failure Bit Count, FBC) is smaller than a preset bit number (e.g., 5 bits). The second write verification voltage PV' may be equal to or less than the first write verification voltage PV of the first write verification operation. For example, the second write verification voltage PV' may be less than or equal to 500mV, but is not limited thereto. The setting of the second write verification voltage PV' may be adjusted according to the actual requirements. The voltage value of the second write verification voltage PV' is determined, for example, according to the number of allowable fail bits. When the failure bit number (e.g. 3 bits) is smaller than the preset bit number (e.g. 5 bits), the writing method of the memory page is completed.
When the number of failed bits (e.g., 10 bits) is not smaller than the predetermined number of bits (e.g., 5 bits), the control circuit 102 may perform the second write operation and the third write verification operation on all the memory cells of the memory page to avoid the read window from shrinking. As shown in fig. 2 (C), the threshold voltage distribution curve of the memory cell is changed from the distribution curve shown by the dotted line to the distribution curve shown by the solid line, thereby reducing the possibility of occurrence of a read error. The second write operation and the third write verify operation ensure that the threshold voltage distribution curve of the memory cell is as expected.
As described above, the target memory cell may be the memory cell having the largest threshold voltage offset as circled by the circled frame 100 of fig. 2 (a). Therefore, only the second write verification is performed on the target memory cell to determine whether the second write operation is necessary, so that the data write efficiency of the memory page can be effectively improved by only the second write verification is performed on the target memory cell.
It should be noted that, when the control circuit 102 performs the second write operation and the third write verification operation, the operating parameters of the second write operation and the third write verification operation can be adjusted according to the actual requirements. For example, the operation parameters of the second write operation and the third write verification operation can be adjusted according to at least one of the failure bit number of the target memory cell and the data write efficiency requirement of the memory cell. The operating parameters may include, but are not limited to, an incremental step pulse programmable voltage, an initial write voltage, or a write verify voltage. For example, when the number of failed bits of the target memory cell is large or data writing is required to be completed in a short time, the voltage values of the incremental step pulse programmable voltage and the initial writing voltage can be increased. In addition, the voltage value of the write verification voltage can also be reduced.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method of writing to a memory device according to an embodiment of the invention. As can be seen from the above embodiments, the method for writing a memory device can include the following steps. In step S302, a first write operation and a first write verify operation are performed on a plurality of memory cells, which may be, for example, single level memory cells, multi-level memory cells, third level memory cells, or fourth level memory cells. In step S304, after the plurality of memory cells pass the first write verification operation, a second write verification operation is performed on a plurality of target memory cells corresponding to at least one target threshold voltage among the plurality of memory cells. The at least one target threshold voltage may be a maximum threshold voltage among all threshold voltages of the plurality of memory cells. Further, the write verify voltage of the second write verify operation may be equal to or less than the write verify voltage of the first write verify operation, e.g., a voltage difference between the write verify voltage of the second write verify operation and the write verify voltage of the first write verify operation may be equal to or less than 500mV. In step S306, it is determined whether the number of fail bits of the plurality of target memory cells is smaller than a predetermined number of bits, and if the number of fail bits is smaller than the predetermined number of bits, the data writing method may be ended. In step S308, if the failure bit number is not smaller than the preset bit number, a second write operation and a third write verification operation are performed on the plurality of memory cells. Thus, the threshold voltage distribution curve of the memory cell is expected. The operating parameters of the second write operation and the third write verify operation may be adjusted while the second write operation and the third write verify operation are performed. The operating parameter is adjusted according to at least one of the failure bit number of the target memory cell and the data writing efficiency requirement of the plurality of memory cells. For example, parameters such as the incremental step pulse programmable voltage, the write voltage, and the write verify voltage may be adjusted.
The above embodiments disclose that the control circuit of the present invention may perform the second write verification operation on the target memory cell corresponding to at least one target threshold voltage in the plurality of memory cells after the plurality of memory cells pass the first write verification operation. And when the failure bit number of the target memory cell is not smaller than the preset bit number, executing a second write operation and a third write verification operation on the plurality of memory cells. As such, the actual threshold voltage distribution curve of the plurality of memory cells may conform to the expected threshold voltage distribution curve. The read window reduction and the possibility of read errors can be improved.
While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention, other and further details of the invention may be had by the present invention, it should be understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrative of the present invention and that no limitations are intended to the scope of the invention, except insofar as modifications, equivalents, improvements or modifications are within the spirit and principles of the invention.